Tory, Ashanti, and I walked inside the supercenter, which had sections for anything you could imagine. On our way there, Ashanti told me and Tory that she too can see the shrouds, but only when something bad was about to happen.

Oh, and that she can rewind time. Apparently.

“Z got shot and died, so you reversed time to save him?” Tory asked Ashanti as I helped her pull out a shopping cart from the rows of them stuck together. “That’s cap. Like, you really claimin’ to be a superhero right now.”

“Boy, I ain’t no superhero. I can only go back like three seconds. Not to mention the crazy migraine on the left side of my head afterwards. Doing it more than once in a short period of time is a no-no. My head would probably explode.”

Ashanti pushed the cart toward the food isles as me and Tory followed beside her. Various dumbfounded expressions took turns morphing his face while she explained what happened last night.

“After that guy fired the gun in the air, I hid behind the couch in case somethin’ happened that needed to be reversed.” She looked at me and continued. “That’s when you stepped up and took most of them out before getting shot in the head.”

“And that’s when you used your superpower.” I stared into her eyes from the realization that she truly saved my life, and it only made my feelings for her grow even more.

I believed every word she said.

Tory on the other hand couldn’t have been more out of the moment. He paced around with exaggerated gestures of astonishment and disbelief. “I can’t do this. I’mma check out the electronics section and see if any games are on sale. I need to get back to reality, ‘cause this, what we talkin’ ‘bout, ain’t reality. I’m gone, bro.”

Ashanti smiled as he departed our view. “Since when are video games reality?”

“To him, they’re everything,” I answered, smiling.

We walked further into the supercenter where the frozen foods were stocked. My courage to speak dwindled now that Tory wasn’t around, but the urge to get to know her better couldn’t be contained.

“So, what made you and your mom move up here?”

She chuckled while putting three packs of chicken wings in the cart. “How ‘bout you answer a question of mine first, and then I’ll answer yours.”

Uh-oh.

“How and when did you see the bald man goin’ into my house?”

Damn. I knew she’d ask that.

“Aight, so you see…I was passing by, right? And then I saw you…and then I saw him…and…” She repeatedly said ‘uh-huh’ as I tried to come up with something on the spot. Clearly there was no point in lying. “Okay, so I was lookin’ out the window yesterday and saw both of you talkin’. That’s all.”

“That sounds about right. Why didn’t you just say that?” she questioned with a smile. “Unless you were spying on me.”

Laughing, I jumped to defend myself. “Wait, how? The guy was parked outside your house before you even came out.”

Amused, she laughed as well while pushing the cart into another isle and picking up more things. “I’m just messin’ with you. As for your question, honestly, there were a lot of things that led to me and my mom moving here. Being followed was one of them.”

Stolen novel; please report.

The topic made her upbeat and poised demeanor disappear. Going on about it seemed like a bad idea, but she continued with the subject.

“It started when me and my mom were walking home late from my cousin’s house. Ironically enough, we were talkin’ ‘bout how badly we needed a car. But anyways, we passed by a bad street hoping everything would be cool when someone snatched my mom’s purse from her and ran off. We chased after the person, but things only got worse from there.”

Seeing the sadness in her eyes, I interrupted and said, “You don’t need to keep goin’. Let’s talk about somethin’ else.”

She shook her head and placed a can of yams in the cart. “So, we cornered the person, right? A young dude, maybe in his early twenties? Didn’t get a good look at his face, but he attacked us and ended up killin’ my mom. I remember cryin’, just beggin’ for her life back and for that moment to have never happened. Seconds later, I found myself in this weird, almost déjà vu position where my mom didn’t get hit yet, so I pulled her away before the guy struck her. The whole thing was so confusing, but I’m glad I saved my mom.”

Taken aback by her story, the movement of my legs shut down as my mind could only focus on the horror she had to endure. Watching her walk ahead and grab ingredients off the shelves, I saw someone who I could relate to. Someone who could understand me.

But what were we, exactly? And what caused us to have these capabilities brought about from death and despair?

“You don’t wanna hear the rest?” she turned around a few feet away and asked.

“Y-Yeah. Aight.”

We sat down on the bench near the restrooms before she continued. “So yeah, me and my mom ran away and went to the police station. I was freakin’ out while explaining to the cops what happened, but of course they didn’t believe me, obviously—especially when I told them about somethin’ I forgot to mention to you.”

“What did you leave out?”

She took a deep breath. “The shroud. I saw it after I reversed time. It was consuming the attacker’s body, like takin’ over him or whatever. I can’t explain, but it made the whole situation feel even worse.”

I nodded with my eyes glued to the white floor. Her experience seeing the shroud was similar to mine whenever it appeared.

“The cops were dicks,” she said. “They laughed and claimed they’d look for the guy who stole my mom’s purse, but all that came after were these men in black suits following us wherever we went. After a while, we couldn’t deal with it anymore, so here I am now.”

“Damn.” The word escaped my lips. “Any signs they followed you here?”

“No, and I take different routes every time I go somewhere, regardless of how long it’ll take me to get from A to B. I’m not tryin’ to bring any attention to myself.”

Well, that explained why she’d always be late for school in the morning despite leaving out before me. I just had one more question to ask.

“About that bald man,” she scoffed at the mentioning of him, “did you know he had a giant shroud surrounding him?”

“Not until you told me, no. It’s weird you were able to see it around him but I couldn’t. Maybe I can only see it when somethin’ bad is about to happen? I always caught a bad vibe from him, though, so I believe you.”

“Who is he?” I felt compelled to know.

“My mom’s boyfriend. He’s the reason why she was able to find a place to live up here and escape the city, so I can’t complain about him too much. He’s supposedly some big shot businessman who she bumped into in the Bronx. He kept tryin’ to get her to move up here because this is where he lives, but I wasn’t feelin’ it until what happened with the shroud. So, we basically used his offer as a way to leave Harlem.”

Man, did she have a crazy life. I wasn’t sure what to say next, so a moment of awkward silence followed until my cell phone vibrated. It was a message from Tory.

Where yall at? Did u get her number yet?”

I texted back, Nah we just talkin. We outside the restrooms over by the registers.

Ashanti turned to me. “I’mma go pay for this stuff now so we can get outta here.”

“Yeah, cool.”

We walked to the registers, but as usual, hardly any employees were there at the checkout counters, causing long lines of people to wait for the only two that were available. Ashanti pushed the cart over to self-checkout, but that was packed as well, leading her to groan and complain.

While waiting, I caught a glimpse of something terrifying. Maybe I’m just remembering last night, I thought. But no, it was here. The shroud had resurfaced, cloaking an elderly man’s body in darkness.

Something bad was about to happen. Something really bad.